Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Evan had his 10-week appointment today. Apparently his head is flattened a bit on the right side (he definitely favors that side while sleeping or lying on his back)! LOL! So, we're supposed to give him more tummy time (which he hates). We'll see how that goes.

He also has a bit of a rash (ringworm) on his face, so she gave us some anti-fungal cream for that. We have no idea where he got it from, but I guess we all carry fungus on our skin. Babies just have more sensitive skin, so they can break out into a rash more easily.

He also got his first round of vaccinations, which included two needles and one oral. He did awesome with the needles! He only cried for a couple seconds after each shot.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

It's that time of year: to look back on the resolutions made in January and see how things went. Here is a list of my 2010 resolutions, and how I did.

1. Get rid of extraneous crap in life.I think what I really meant here was to get rid of things that I felt obligated to do, but hated doing. I edited my Facebook friends list, and deleted a few people that I just didn't feel comfortable being "friends" with. This actually turned into a small drama when a couple people confronted me about being deleted (get a life!). I also ended up shutting down my Nature Network blog. It was just too much of a reminder of how much I disliked research. Finally, when we moved to our house, we got rid of a ton of stuff. So, I think I did pretty good on this resolution.

2. Find one (or more) fun activities to keep fit.At the beginning of the year I started swimming and I loved it. But, then I got pregnant and we moved, and I basically haven't done it since. In fact, I didn't do much on anything to keep myself in shape this year. Mostly because I felt like ass most of my pregnancy. So, I didn't do too well on this one.

3. Read 20-25 books.Even with Evan's early arrival, I managed to squeeze in 20 books by the end of the year! According to my records, the worst book I read this year was Crucial Confrontations by Kerry Patterson et al. (rated 2/5), and the best book was Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult (rated 4.5/5). Looking back, I think the most memorable book was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson.

4. Further career in education & outreach.I did a lot in this area, even though it wasn't officially part of my job description. I created some earthquake-related hands-on activities for a workshop in May. I worked my ass off to have two open houses at the local observatory, both of which were extremely successful. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to convince the "uppers" to continue with similar events, and the observatory doors will close on December 31st. I wrote my first grant application, and I pretty much have a job lined up for this coming summer (more on this later once it becomes official). 5. Buy a house & host Christmas.We bought a house in February and moved in at the end of April. Since then, we had the kitchen renovated, all rooms painted (except the bathroom), and the soffits and gutters replaced. My mom is here right now, and my dad is joining us tomorrow for the holidays. So, I can check this one off the list!

6. Work on confidence.This one is tough to measure. I didn't do any specific "work" on this area, but I do feel better about myself in general. I think the pregnancy had a lot to do with it because all of a sudden I wasn't focused on how my body looked. I still feel the same way after the pregnancy, but we'll see if it lasts.

7. Work on anger.Again, this is tough to measure. I have a feeling DH would say I didn't do too well on this, since I was on an emotional roller coaster during my pregnancy, and for the 4-5 weeks after as well. But, I think Evan is really teaching me to be more patient, which is a big factor with anger!

8. Have more fun!Hmm...not sure how to measure this one either. I feel like I'm having more fun these days, or at least enjoying our life as it is instead of thinking it should be something else. Perhaps learning that lesson is even better than the original resolution.

9. Graduate from beginner-level knitting.Let's see...I finally finished the baby blanket, and it took me about 8 months to finish a tote bag, but at least it was something other than a scarf! I also knitted squares that spelled out Evan, and I knitted a hat for him too.

10. Work towards a family.We welcomed our little boy, Evan, on October 19th!

I think I did pretty well this year! Next post will be my resolutions for 2011.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

- On his 1-month birthday, he had what we thought was a seizure and we took him to the ER. He ended up spending a week in the hospital, with us at his side the whole time. He underwent a barrage of tests (CT scan, Xray, MRI, EEG, EKG, ultrasound, spinal tap, blood/urine tests and more) and thankfully they found nothing wrong with him. Now we think he probably just breathed in a bit of spit-up into his lungs and it caused him to convulse for some reason. It hasn't happened since, and we hope it never happens again!

- He has started to become much more interested in his surroundings! He looks around at everything, and stares intently at things that catch his attention. He holds eye contact for what seems like forever, especially during feeding time.

- We have started using his play mat, and he loves it! He loves batting and grabbing at the toys, and looking at himself in the mirror.

- He's not a huge fan of tummy time because he gets frustrated so easily. He's already trying to roll over and can get up on to his side, but can't roll over the whole way. He also practices his crawling technique!

- He grabs at my hair, nose, and mouth. He also loves to grab DH's glasses and take them off his face! Not sure why he doesn't do that to anyone else that wears glasses...weird!

- He can hold his head up for a few seconds! It's so cool to see how strong he is getting.

- When he's awake he's really awake these days - wanting to play and interact. He tends to be very active in the morning and early afternoon, then sleeps a lot more in the evening.

- He can make a zillion different faces! It's hard to imagine what might be going on in that brain of his.

- He has been giving us these HUGE smiles in the past few days! He has been smiling for a while, but nothing like these! I haven't been able to catch one on camera though. Mostly because I'm too in awe when I see it.

- He has started to "coo" - making really cute noises. Mostly of the "heh", "ah", "wah", and "hoo" variety.

- He has started to respond to people! My Mom waved at him and said "Hi" and he made this cute "heh" noise and smiled right at her! Then, another time, DH asked him if he wet his diaper, and he made this pathetic little "hoo" sound, and gave a little pout-y face - like he was saying "It's not my fault, Dad!". So cute.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

One year ago today, I lost Baby G for the first time. That day was absolutely devastating, but we are so very thankful that he came back to us and now have a beautiful, funny, squirmy, little boy for Christmas!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Last night, Evan went 8 hours between feeds! We fed him at about 9:30pm, went to bed around 10:30pm, and he didn't wake up to eat until 5:30am!! Woohoo!!

Not sure if this was a one-time thing, or the start of something very wonderful, but time will tell. He has been sleeping longer after his last feed before bed (6-6.5 hours), but the jump to 8 hours was quite surprising.

Not only that, he then went back to sleep until about 10am! We were actually to the point of feeling like we slept too much!

DH starts work tomorrow, so we'll see how this whole thing goes when he has to be up at 7am to get ready.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

DH goes back to work on Monday. I'm scared - how am I going to do this on my own?

Okay, so thankfully I won't be totally on my own. My Mom arrives on Friday and will be here for three weeks. I'm hoping it will be a nice step between both DH and I being home and me being home by myself come January.

Still though - it scares me that I'm getting closer to being on my own. My big worry right now is the feeding. Evan is getting fed primarily by the bottle, and I am pumping. That means I'll need to find time to pump when Evan is not preparing to eat, eating, or screaming/trying to calm down after eating. Right now, DH is usually feeding him or holding him while I do it. Evan seems to have a radar to the pump, and practically every time I try it when he's sleeping or calm, he starts crying/screaming/etc..

I worry about other stuff too - like how am I going to console him all day long? DH and I switch off so we can get a break and eat, have a shower, go to the bathroom, and do simple chores around the house. How the heck am I going to do it all on my own? I can seriously see it coming down to me having to choose between having a very quick bite to eat (i.e. a granola bar) or brushing my teeth.

I'm sure we'll figure out a new normal, but right now I'm frickin' terrified!!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

This is going to sound really dumb, and like I'm a clueless parent, but now that Evan is awake for good portions of time I have no idea what to do with him! Apparently, I so do not have the mothering instinct :P

I mean, we read to him, talk to him, and we do tummy time with him, but that's about it. I feel bad not doing things with him during all of his waking hours. Any other ideas of what kind of activities we could/should be doing with him?

In other news, we're making slow progress with breast feeding (BFing). We now get 1-2 good feedings in a day, which is much better than before. At this point, I think I'm the limiting factor. Mostly because (TMI alert) my nipples hurt from not being used to BFing, and I end up having to pump anyway because I tend to have an oversupply of milk (which completely defeats the purpose of BFing so I don't have to pump anymore). In any case, I don't intend to exclusively BF because it's nice that DH can also feed Evan (especially at night!), so if we can get to the point of doing 50/50, I'd be happy.